Sunday, November 25, 2018

Money is an emotional topic, which partly explains why we all struggle to spend, save, and negotiate in an optimally rational way. But what’s really happening inside our brains when money comes up?

Well, a Harvard Business Review article by author Kabir Sehgal looked for answers to that question by breaking down some of the most important money-related fMRI studies of the past two decades. The answer, in short, is a whole lot.

Here are three of the key takeaways:

That stomach pain you feel when your money is at risk is real.

In one 2003 study, test subjects were asked to play a game known among behavioral economists as the “Ultimatum Game”: a pair of strangers are given a sum of money and asked to split it. One person acts as the “proposer,” the other as the “responder.” If the pair can’t agree on a split, no one walks away with cash.

Money is an emotional topic, which partly explains why we all struggle to spend, save, and negotiate in an optimally rational way. But what’s really happening inside our brains when money comes up?

Well, a Harvard Business Review article by author Kabir Sehgal looked for answers to that question by breaking down some of the most important money-related fMRI studies of the past two decades. The answer, in short, is a whole lot.

Here are three of the key takeaways:

That stomach pain you feel when your money is at risk is real.

In one 2003 study, test subjects were asked to play a game known among behavioral economists as the “Ultimatum Game”: a pair of strangers are given a sum of money and asked to split it. One person acts as the “proposer,” the other as the “responder.” If the pair can’t agree on a split, no one walks away with cash.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Xinhua, China’s state-run press agency, has unveiled new “AI anchors” — digital composites created from footage of human hosts that read the news using synthesized voices.

It’s not clear exactly what technology has been used to create the anchors, but they’re in line with the most recent machine learning research. It seems that Xinhua has used footage of human anchors as a base layer, and then animated parts of the mouth and face to turn the speaker into a virtual puppet. By combining this with a synthesized voice, Xinhua can program the digital anchors to read the news, far quicker than using traditional CGI. (We’ve reached out to AI experts in the field to see what their analysis is.)

According to reports from Xinhua and the South China Morning Post, two anchors (one for English broadcasts and one for Chinese) were created in collaboration with local search engine company Sogou. Xinhua says the anchors have “endless prospects” and can be used to cheaply generate news reports for the agency’s TV, web, and mobile output.

Each anchor can “work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency,” says Xinhua.

The technology has its limitations. In the videos above and below of the English-speaking anchor, it’s obvious that the range of facial expressions are limited, and the voice is clearly artificial. But machine learning research in this area is making swift improvements, and it’s not hard to imagine a future where AI anchors are indistinguishable from the real thing.

This will strike many as a disturbing prospect, especially as the technology is being deployed in China. There, the press is constantly censored, and it is nearly impossible to get clear reports of even widespread events like the country’s suppression of the Muslim Uighur community. Creating fake anchors to read propaganda sounds chilling.

But what the actual effect on society may be if such anchors become widespread is hard to judge. If Xinhua wants someone to read the news without questioning it they don’t need AI to make that happen. Meanwhile, synthetic characters are slowly finding their way into mainstream culture, with figures like virtual pop star Hatsune Miku and CGI Instagram models familiarizing the public with this sort of creation.

But while these examples fall clearly into the world of entertainment, having AI anchors read the news suggests the technology could become more than a novelty.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

We could see an unusually mellowed down version of President Trump at the Press conference. He seemed humble and humbled too by the occasion.

He gave credit to Kim's intelligence and tough negotiations skills. It was surprising to see him not getting perturbed by tricking and sticky question.

He clearly seemed overawed by the situation, but handled it with maturity and deftness.

Yesterday, I almost called him renegade. Today, he was anything but that.

Chairman Kim for his age ( just 26) seems to have shown, tremendous maturity as mentioned by President Trump. What Kim promised to give up was tremendous, however, what the people of North Korea stand to gain is also significant. Given the economic and industrial support, North Korea will also grow as fastl as China did, Japan and Germany did.

I know that cautious optimism is the correct course, but seeing President Trump's confidence, we can aim for much more.

For now, both Japan and South Korea can breathe easy and feel safe from attack by North Korea. Similarly, these countries have succeeded in not giving United States a pretext to open another theatre of war in Asia.

All these apart, the opening sentence that Chairman Kim spoke "Happy to meet you Mr. President" will reverberate in everyone's ear for along time.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

The Ministry of Statistics reported growth
of 6.7 percent, down from 7.1 percent for a year earlier. However, economists expect
growth to be robust in the current financial year.

However, when we compare the growth for the
period Jan-March 2017, we see finally see a growth of 0.7 % compared to last
year for the same period. Finally, albeit slowly, we seem to be recovering from
the impact of demonetisation.

But, in the coming months of this year, we
may again see government policies which may adversely affect the economic
growth.

This being the election year the
government may formulate policies to appease people or at least a part of
community. History tells us that, whenever a government formulates a populistic
policy, it goes against the long term interests of the people of the country.

The Modi government has already more than
4,300 crores of tax payer’s money for publicity and the promotion of its
various schemes. This is based on the information given by the government
ministries in response to the RTI by people. This being election year, much
more of the poor taxpayer’s money will go in projecting the government’s
achievement.

The Amount of Money Modi Government Spent On
Publicity Is Enough To Feed One Million Children For 3 Years

POPULISITC POLICIES ARE WITHOUT EXCEPTION
ALWAYS ANTI PEOPLE.

As if, the self created economic turmoil
is not enough, the ruling BJP has been pushed to desperation, and frustration by
the raising oil prices and adverse by poll results. We only have the prime
minister to blame for this situation. He inherited a situation, when the oil
prices were dropping and reached a position of almost 50% of the present rate.

He did not pass on the benefit of the
bonanza to the people of the country, who were the rightful owners, nor did he
create an oil fund to deposit the surplus. If he had done that, the surplus
deposited in the account could have been deployed to create a buffer and
subsidise to certain extent at least the burden on people.

Where did this huge money go??

How and where was the money deployed???

Was it used for Fiscal expenditure, or was
it deployed for people welfare schemes???

Why was an oil surplus fund not setup???

Was the economic management so poor, that,
the government did not envisage a future situation, where the USD could
appreciate and as a fallout could bring a resultant increase in crude oil.

Silence is not an answer to every
question. The government and more specifically the prime minister is
accountable to the people of the country for every rupee earned and spent.

We of course don’t mind the prime minister
and universities refusing to answer the RTI regarding the prime minister’s
educational qualifications???

You cannot do the same with the public
money.

The previous government had a galaxy of
economic experts led prime minister, who himself was an economist or global
repute. Plus, he had another great economist and global expert as head of
planning commission. Another great economist as the Chief Economic Advisor and
later as the RBI governor. To add to this he had a glittering panel of
economists as members of Economic Advisory Council to the prime minister. All the
people put together formulated an economic policy, that people of India found
it good enough to give UPA and Dr. Singh another term.

Modi immediately after coming to power
dismantled the Economic Advisory Council. He could have retained the council
but the members. And suddenly, after there was a hue and cry among people on
account of mismanagement of Demonetisation and GST, he again reinstated the
Economic Advisory Council. He is now pressurising the members to spread false
and tailored accounts of economic growth and employment. Even renowned economist
Dr. Surjit Bhalla is being used as a tool by the prime minster furthering the
cause of BJP. It may be very difficult for poor Dr. Bhalla to calm down his
questioning conscious. A conscientious person like him may perhaps hardest days
of professional career.

I do not claim to be a know all in economics
or governance. People may correct me wherever I might have gone wrong. I am open
to dissents and disagreements and debates. Please feel free to criticise and
correct me.